NightClan Challenge 1 - Moonflower's Lullaby
by Destiny Willowleaf
Summary: It's night time in ThunderClan, and a couple destined kits want a lullaby. So do others. Will Mapleshade ever be alright? NightClan Challange.


**This is a NightClan challenge. **

***I'll have a song to go with it eventually... but for now come up with your own tune! :D**

****This is where Because of You comes in. Look it up!**

**And I know Larchkit, Petalkit, and Patchkit are genderless, but Patch isn't a girl name, Petal is NOT a guy name, and Larch kinda sound male.**

One warm newleaf night, two sisters were begging their mother for a lullaby.

"Please Moonflower?" Bluekit asked, her eyes wide with pleading.

"Pretty please?" her sister, Snowkit, added.

Moonflower smiled. "Of course. After the song, do you promise to try to sleep?"

"Yes!" they replied, settling down.

*"_Our tale is from a time that's from so long ago,_

_before my life even began._

_There was a little she-cat named Maplepaw,_

_who wanted to be the best in ThunderClan._

_She worked as hard as any apprentice could, _

_to try and make herself the best._

_But when she met that charming Applepaw,_

_her heart fluttered inside her chest._

_He was an apprentice in RiverClan,_

_while Maplepaw was part of our own._

_But to those in love the boundaries never matter,_

_and for them, they never wanted to be alone._

_Over the years the two became mated,_

_Maplepaw soon grew u pinto Mapleshade._

_Soon after these events were over, _

_Her lover soon became afraid._

_After Mapleshade had kits without a father,_

_and the Medicine cat solving it as Appledusk,_

_as an exile she tried to swim to her mates' clan,_

_her kits were gone and her mate was like stardust."_

Moonflower sang. By then, Bluekit and Snowkit were almost fast asleep.

Smiling, Moonflower whisper-sung the last verse.

"_Remember this as you are growing up:_

_Don't cross boundaries to try and find your love._

_There's always a tom for you in this Clan,_

_so long as you don't keep looking above."_

At the same time in the Dark Forest, Mapleshade was putting her kits, Larchkit, Petalkit, and Patchkit to sleep, with her own lullaby.**

"_I will not make,  
The same mistakes that you did.  
I will not let myself,  
Cause my heart so much misery.  
I will not break,  
The way you did, you fell so hard.  
I've learned the hard way,  
To never let it get that far.  
Because of you,  
I never stray too far from the sidewalk.  
Because of you,  
I learned to play on the safe side so I don't get hurt.  
Because of you,  
I find it hard to trust not only me, but everyone around me.  
Because of you, I am afraid."_

Larchkit looked up at his mom._ "_Mama?" he asked.

"Yes, Larchkit?" she replied.

"Why are you here?"

Mapleshade sighed. "I have never truly known. In the past, I vowed revenge on ThunderClan for casting me out, and also on your father, as he went on to have 3 daughters. I have never carried out these threats."

"Then come with us to StarClan!" Petalkit said.

"Please?" Patchkit added.

"I don't know if I can."

"I'll sing Let it Go if you don't!" they threatened.

"Alright. Let's go," Mapleshade quickly replied, picking up her kits.

"TO STARCLAN!" they simultaneously shouted.

Soon enough, they made it to the border between StarClan and the Place of no Stars.

The kits crossed over easily, but Mapleshade couldn't make it through the boundaries.

"I can't go through!" she exclaimed, shoving herself at the invisible wall as hard as she could.

"We can't cross back!" Petalkit shouted, unable to break the shield.

"We must stay strong!" Larchkit replied.

"Together we can do anything!" Patchkit joined in.

"The power of kinship rules over the boundaries!" Petalkit added, pushing harder.

"I won't be held back by this curse any longer!" Mapleshade screamed, using all her strength to try to join her kits.

"WE CAN DO IT!" they cried.

After what felt like days of trying to break through, Mapleshade finally broke free of the Place of no Stars.

"I-I'm here," she mused. "I'm actually here!"

Suddenly, the first leaders came.

"Uh oh!" the kits squeaked, and hid behind their mother.

"Why are you here? You belong in the Place of no Stars, along with the other cats who couldn't stay lawful," Thunderstar questioned.

"I am here to join my kits."

"You realize that your kits are fine here," Shadowstar told her.

"I won't let them grow up without a mother!" Mapleshade snarled, protecting the last of her family. "You don't think it's painful, watching your children grow up without real family? Seeing them and wishing you were there? Being torn to pieces every time you looked their way, knowing they could never see you? Your mate abandoning you, just so he wouldn't look weak in his Clan's eyes? DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT'S LIKE?"

"It doesn't matter," Windstar mewed. "Leaving your kits, or your kits leaving you, is painful, but that does not mean you should break the rules we've made.

"Let Mama stay with us!" the kits exclaimed, baring their tiny teeth.

"Choose wisely kits; Stay here, with us in StarClan, or join your mother in the Place of no Stars," Riverstar ordered.

The kits stuck close to Mapleshade's side, lookingn like they'd never leave.

"Why am I in the Dark Forest? I only SAID I was going to get revenge. I never did! So why was I there?" Mapleshade growled.

"To be taught a lesson," Thunderstar replied cooly.

"You made me suffer so I would be taught a lesson? There were others who did the same as I, and they weren't sent there! So why me?" she demanded.

"STOP!" A familiar scent, even now, hit Mapleshade's nose.

"Appledusk?" she called.

The said tom ran over a hill, and landed between Mapleshade and the leaders.

"Don't make her go back. It was all my fault that she was even there. I made a terrible choice that day, and from those days onward. If I must, I will take her postion in the Place of no Stars. Just let her stay," Appledusk commanded. "I may not be leader, or be considered Mapleshade's mate anymore, but I still love her like no one else."

Mapleshade smiled, and leaned on him. "You don't have to do that for me."

"I will, no matter what you say."

Windstar was impressed with his determination, as she thought back to the old days with Gorsefur.

"I say you both can stay," she declared. Mapleshade deserves to stay with her family."

The other leaders soon agreed, and then Mapleshade finally joined her family in StarClan.

**DONE!**


End file.
